IPL 2021: CSK coach Simmons explains what makes Shardul Thakur 'a special cricketer'

Bringing them an inch closer to their title win prospects, Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in yesterday's IPL 2021 match and moved to the top of the table. After restricting RCB to 156 in the first innings, the men in yellow chased down the total in the 19th over to win their fifth successive game in UAE.

Shardul Thakur, in particular, was impressive and bowled his heart out in this game and finished with figures of 2-29. He picked the wickets of AB de Villiers and Devdutt Padikkal at the crucial juncture of the first innings. CSK’s bowling consultant Eric Simmons was all praise for the Indian pacer after his impactful performance in the last encounter.

Speaking at the RCB vs CSK post-match conference, Simmons said, “Shardul Thakur is somebody that you can throw the ball to under any circumstances. He wants to bowl and bat under any circumstances. He has incredible self-belief and that is what makes him such a special cricketer. As a team, we very strongly look at the execution of our tactics rather than the outcome. Sometimes, the bowler gets hit for fours and sixes even though the execution is good.”

RCB raced to 90 without losing a wicket in the first 10 overs but only managed to score 66 in the next 10 overs. Simmons pointed out the mistake and hailed Thakur for shifting the momentum towards Chennai Super Kings. He said, “We didn’t get it quite right in the first half. But in the second half, he (Thakur), in many ways, (shifted) the momentum. He bowled in the right areas and he was clever about the way he went about his bowling.”

“A lot of people speak about our bowling attack being a smart one and I think he epitomized that today. He used his ability to read the wicket and the batsmen in the situation,” he added.

CSK have learned from their IPL 2020 mistakes reckons Simmons

CSK had a torrid time when the IPL was played in UAE. They failed to qualify for the playoffs but this time, they have turned the tables around. Speaking about the change of fortunes, Simmons said, “We spoke about what went wrong for us in India in the first half of the IPL and we spoke about what we did wrong here (last season). Any situation, be it a good performance or a bad performance, is a learning. What went wrong in the last IPL was a tremendous lesson for us. But you have to learn the lessons and I think we did.”

“The balance of our team is really good. Out batting, the way that we have come out and played with the sort of aggression that we do…. We have put together a well-balanced team. We have learnt out lessons from the previous IPL here and applied that in India, where we played a different brand of cricket,” he concluded.

Image: IPLT20.com/BCCI